Wednesday, June 27, 2007

IN PRAISE OF ERIK BEDARD

Quick - do you know who leads the majors in strikeouts? You can probably guess, based on the topic of this entry. Erik Bedard, like Mike Maroth, is just one of my guys. I don't know why, I just think he's a very good pitcher, on a not-so-good team, and I always try to get him on my fantasy team. Unlike other players, Bedard turns out to be a move that I could have made with my head instead of my heart....he is quickly becoming one of the best pitchers in baseball.

The past couple of seasons, Bedard has gotten off to slow starts...this year, for instance, after his first 5 starts, he was 3-2, but had a 6.11 ERA. We'll throw his sixth start, a no-decision, into the "rocky" category, though the 4 runs he gave up in six innings lowered his ERA to 6.09. Over his next five starts, Bedard began a string of absolute dominance that continues straight through to today...and he went 0-1 in those five starts, giving up 2, 0, 3, 1 and 2 earned runs. He was just getting no support from his teammates.

Bedard won his next outing, shutting out the Royals over eight innings, and then his June went like this:

The only flaw in Bedard's game is that he gets so many strikeouts, which forces him to throw a lot of pitches, and ends up leaving a lot of games early...not sticking around to the late innings. He'll go 6 or 7, 8 innings, rarely. And with the Baltimore bullpen, that gives them a few innings to blow leads, and that leaves Bedard with a lot of no decisions. He also has given up 11 homers on the season - that seems like a high total to me.

Bedard's numbers on the year right now, after Wednesday night's win against New York:

Part of this entry is to make a case that Bedard deserves a spot on the American League All Star team. But it's also to draw attention to someone who is mired away on a team that hasn't done well, and has an awful bullpen, which affects his win total.

Bedard is 6-4 right now. He could easily be 12-4. That would have gotten him some attention.

1 comment:

Anonymous
said...

bedard is one of my favorite pitchers too. it's a shame that he plays for a team that not only does not give him much run support, so he can't get his wins, but that is basically shunned by the national media and therefore erik doesn't get the recognition that he deserves. hopefully, if he continues on his strikeout pace, he will finally receive some attention.

speaking of strikeouts, i don't think that those are the reason that erik usually doesn't get past the 7th inning. if there's a flaw in his game it is the tendency to nibble, therefore extending at bats where in many cases he had been ahead 0-2. when he doesn't do that, he has been able to go longer without a reduction in the number of Ks. the best example is his two hitter against the rangers on july 7, when he pitched his first career cg shutout and struck out 15 with an economical 109 pitches. if he can continue to be that efficient, he will be working deeper into games without having to sacrifice his K total.